Approaching the Summit of the ProcureCon Mountain

We’re drawing towards the end of the Summer hols here in the UK and most of Europe – that means for many procurement folk that a packed and exciting conference season will soon be upon us. One to watch out for is ProcureCon Europe. It’s truly (in our experience) one of the highlights of the season, attracting CPO-level speakers and a whole host of relevant solution providers, and of course hundreds of delegates from all corners of the procurement, purchasing and supply chain space.

This year it’s in the beautiful and fascinating (if you ignore the hen and stag parties) city of Prague -- plenty to see and visit, if you get any time off that is! ProcureCon is one of those events with many streams and very packed days, in fact it has lined up 75 interactive case studies, roundtables and workshops to choose from and some all-star panels to share experiences and intelligence on areas that might affect what you are doing, and planning to do, in the year ahead, like:

How to deliver better-than-expected savings

How breakthroughs in technology will disrupt your business environment

How to develop management competencies for you and your team

How to turn procurement data into business intelligence

How to strengthen relations with your internal stakeholders

How to mitigate risk across your supplier base

We’ll take a closer look at some of the keynotes and panel sessions in the coming weeks, but one of the speakers we always look forward to hearing is the motivational speaker. This year there’s Cathy O’Dowd, acclaimed climber and adventurer, delivering: ‘Think like an explorer; The art of doing things that have never been done before.’ Sounds fascinating -- as her website says: “She shares her stories about leading teams and executing plans in high-risk, high-stress environments, while striving for big goals. Learn why plans fail and how teams crumble and discover the key tools that ensure you will get to the top.” You can read more about her here.

And of course we musn’t forget that CIPS Supply Management Awards take place in association with ProcureCon Europe. The evening of the 9th October will be a glittering opportunity to witness who the winning individuals and companies are, and find out about the best practice work they have carried out over the past 12 months.

ProcureCon takes place 9-11 October at the Corinthia Hotel, Prague. You can register here, and there's a special discount for our readers using the code - SM15